Michael Davis

Abysmal, 2021 Contemporary digital print

2021

LLC and mining operation being bought up at an alarming rate by international consortiums. The Rare Earth artworks grew out of my investigative research in 2009 while working on a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (SARF) application. That resulted in a body of work titled “Imagos”– photo/journalism images that capture a moment in history and immediately place the viewer at that moment in time. While navigating Landsat records of Earth's land surfaces from space I discovered large areas of disturbed landscapes. These were immense open pit mines at numerous locations world wide, many of which were Rare Earth mines or REEs. The mining and processing to separate the rare earth elements is an environmental conundrum. On one hand these elements are in extremely high demand and necessary for electric vehicles...

Style: Contemporary, Modern, Conceptual Small study for the series “Rare Earth"

"Invisible, Nauru Island" is part of the "Rare Earth" series of artworks related to the extraction of materials used in our modern technology. Each artwork includes an archival image...

Quote from RT on style subject matter. From the model image the actual artwork evolves in the studio. What was once a model is now a reference. The act of making, testing material compatibility, critical evaluation, chance, gesture and the Illuminating accident often shift the final concept. Ine artwork has a lite of its own. The Rare Earth artworks grew out of my investigative research in 2009 while working on a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (SARF) application. That resulted in a body of work titled “Imagos”– photo/journalism images that capture a moment in history and immediately place the viewer at that moment in time. While navigating Landsat records of Earth's land surfaces from space I discovered large areas of disturbed landscapes. These were immense open pit mines at numerous locations world wide, many of which were Rare Earth mines or REEs. The mining and processing to separate the rare earth elements is an environmental conundrum. On one hand these elements are in extremely high demand and necessary for electric vehicles...

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